"Rambo: First Blood." Why, oh why, am I mentioning this movie in my blog? Because it was filmed in Hope, British Columbia, and for good reason. Hope is eminently photogenic, surrounded by high mountain peaks, and the mighty Fraser River flows next to town.
I first fell in love with Hope when I was a teenager. Our family traveled to Penticton, B.C. for a religious convention. Hope was a stop on our vacation. The majesty of the towering mountains, the power of the Fraser River, and the small community feel, all captured my heart. Today, I fell in love again.
We started our exploration by walking around town. Chainsaw carvings are part of this place. Every other year, there is a chainsaw-carving competition. Of course, photos of the finished results are in this and another blog.
We are at the Wild Rose Campground for a week. It's an older park, the sites are close together, and there are huge trees to dodge, but it's fine. We are a couple of freeway exits away from downtown.
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There was a fire in the mountains two years ago.
They were able to stop the fire before it hit Hope! |
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| There are wild roses in front of Wild Rose Campground. |
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This is our site. Other campers have been coming
and going all week. |
Our first stop downtown was at the Hope Visitor Centre. They gave us an Art Walk brochure with locations of about 90 wood carvings.
On the way into town, the freeway reader board said TransCanada-1 was closed. The clerk in the Visitor Centre told us the highway was closed due to a fire. It has been closed for two days. We were sorry to hear that because we wanted to go north on TC-1 to Hell's Gate Aerial Tram, the town of Yale, Fraser Canyon, and the Alexandra Suspension Bridge. We'll watch the sign to see if TC-1 reopens while we're here.
Another place we really want to go is the Othello Tunnels, a series of train tunnels and bridges from the historic Kettle Valley Railway (KVR). Built with significant contributions from Chinese laborers in the late 19th and 20th centuries, this five-tunnel path is carved through steep canyon walls. A 3.5k round-trip walk on a rails-to-trails easement is easy and level. It goes along a gorgeous, wild river. We did this walk many years ago and loved it.
This site sustained significant damage from flooding in 2021. We are told it is closed. However, the internet says it is supposed to re-open in July 2024. We will keep our eyes open and drive there to see for ourselves.
Armed with information, we went on a walkabout to find as many chainsaw carvings as possible. We found our first carving, "Snowboarder," outside the visitor center. We drove around the corner to park on a city street and found our second carving, "Pharmacy Owl" in front of the pharmacy. Imagine that. Here are the woodcarvings, murals we saw, and stunning scenery in town.
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| "Snowboarder." |
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| "Pharmacy Owl." |
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| Mountain signpost. |
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| "Sturgeon Rotary Bench." |
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| Fort Hope signage. |
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Fort Hope signage.
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| The mighty Fraser River in Hope, B.C. |
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| Sto:Lo - People of the River. |
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| Sto:Lo - People of the River. |
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"First Nations Chief," by Levi Caya, 2021,
Apley, Ontario, Canada.
Pro Class Chainsaw Carver. |
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"Gnome House," by Peter Rieger, 2009.
Master Carver, Quesnel, B.C.
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| "The Wizard," by Randy Swope. |
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The Mighty Fraser River as seen from the Rotary
Centennial Park in Hope, B.C. |
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| Mural in Hope, B.C. by Skoda, 1994. |
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| "Stairway to Heaven." |
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| "Experience Hope," by Randy Swope. |
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| "Stand off." |
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| Downtown Hope is surrounded by high mountains! |
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"Owen," by Ken Sheen, 2012.
Master Carver, Marguerite, B.C. |
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| Rotary International Clock in the Plaza, Hope, B.C. |
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| District of Hope sign. |
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| Mountains everywhere, but the town is mostly flat! |
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"Rambo First Blood," by Ryan Villiers,
1982. Master Carver. |
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| "Bart the Bear," by Pete Ryan, 1992. |
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| "Purple Night Lights," by Brigitte Lochhead, 2015. |
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"Chip." Royal Canadian Mounted Police Service
Dog killed in the line of duty while protecting
his partner and friend Cst. Doug Lewis. |
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I'm admiring a great dragon
chainsaw carving in Hope, B.C. |
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The back of the dragon chainsaw
carving in Hope, B.C. |
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You have to search high and low for
chainsaw carvings in Hope, B.C. |
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| "TREC Totem." |
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This gorgeous great blue heron wood
carving is in a front yard! |
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A humorous chainsaw carving in
downtown Hope, B.C. See the next
photo for the back of this. |
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| Chainsaw carvers have a sense of humor! |
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"25th Anniversary: Rick Hansen
Man in Motion World Tour," carving
by Pete Ryan, 2012. |
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| A wood-carved door handle. |
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| "Raven," by Brigitte Lochhead. |
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| A mural in Hope, B.C. |
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| "The Birth of Ogopogo." |
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| Hope's historic cinema, Hope, British Columbia. |
Throughout our trip north to British Columbia, we have been excited about buying local fruit. This store had all the fresh yummies. We bought raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. They were great! Hope, British Columbia also has two farmer's markets: one on Friday and another on Saturday. We'll be shopping at those as well!
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| Fresh local produce at SKT Farm Market. |
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| The Coquihalla River in Hope, British Columbia. |
The woodcarving below is adorable. We found it while driving around exploring. It is next to the parking lot at the golf course. There are marmot carvings all the way around the stump! Two of the top marmots have names: Rivot and Divot.
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| "Marmots," by Pete Ryan, 1998. |
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| Here's a REAL marmot at the golf course. |
In researching the names of murals and woodcarvings, I learned that the fox mural below is being used for filming in a six-part Netflix crime drama called "Untamed." The following synopsis is from Netflix: "The mystery thriller follows Eric Inman [Eric Bana], a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature's vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Inman on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park, and in his own past."
The mural is located on the side of the Kingpin Lounge building on Wallace St. in Hope, British Columbia. The show is supposed to take place near Yosemite National Park. The mural was painted in June 2024. The Vancouver, British Columbia production crew will be back in August 2024 for more filming. The crew is not sure if the mural will stay when filming is done.
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The mural on the right is being used in filming
Netflix's new six-part series "Untamed." |
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| "Roaring Bear," by Dan Richey, 2010. |
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"Warrior," by Dan Richey, 2010.
Master Carver from Nanaimo, B.C. |
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"I Conquered It," by Ryan Cook.
Carved in celebration of the annual
Ride to Conquer Cancer. |
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| "Bear and Cub." |
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"In Loving Memory of Murray
Douglas Sullivan." |
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| "I Conquered It." |
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| "Lumberjack." |
When we finished walking in downtown Hope, B.C., we returned to the 5th wheel for lunch. After lunch, we drove across TransCanada-1 to hike Flood Falls Trail.
The trail was very short but had some elevation gain. You could tell that when it rains the falls are probably pretty. Today, however, we had to use our imagination. The falls were dry.
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| Insert water here. |
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Imagine this with water
and it would be a waterfall. |
At least we hiked a little. LOL.
That's all for today. On the agenda for tomorrow: (1) Do a 10k Volksmarch in downtown Hope, B.C., (2) Have a bakery treat at "The Rolling Pin" bakery, (3) Visit Bridal Veil Falls and do the hike there.
